Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: A tall, indeterminate vine that produces heavily in the greenhouse. The large, heavy tomatoes have a unique shape—part heart, part barrel—with dense, sugary flesh near the stem. Excellent all-rounder for fresh eating, paste, and canning. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos O Olya ⭐ Veteran Member (1,829 posts) I bought these … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Nastenka is a highly productive, rugged determinate bush that stays compact around 2-3.2 ft (60-100 cm). Grown heavily for processing and canning, it produces dense, thick-walled pink fruits. Growers report significant shape variations depending on the seed company, ranging from oval plums to blunt hearts. It boasts excellent resistance to poor weather … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A highly contested name covering several different strains. The heirloom swap version produces sweet, deep pink oblate tomatoes on a regular leaf plant, while commercial seed packets often produce a completely different compact, carrot-leaf plant with mixed-to-negative flavor reviews. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-6) L Lana_s_Kavkaza (Svetlana) … Read more
🍅 Quick take: An early indeterminate producing pale yellow-milky hearts with a mild flavor. Known for its delicate, wispy foliage and excellent resistance to blossom end rot and blossom drop. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-5) C Cherry (Olga) Pro | 6,822 posts 📍 Baranovichi (USDA Zone 5) White Medovik. Indet, … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A compact, early determinate variety producing sweet, yellow-orange elongated hearts. Known for setting fruit reliably even in cool, wet weather and boasting wispy, weeping foliage. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-4) S Semechka Pro | 23,540 posts 📍 Krasnoyarsk suburbs (USDA Zone 3) D decorshtor (Irina) Beginner | … Read more
🍅 Quick take: The name Malinovka causes massive confusion in the tomato world because there are two completely different, unrelated varieties sharing the name. Strain 1 (Commercial “Russian Garden” brand): A short, 24-28 inch (60-70 cm) determinate bush that produces small 2.5 oz (70 g) crack-resistant, dark pink plum/paste tomatoes. Perfect for canning. Strain 2 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Medvezhye Serdtse (Bear’s Heart) is a highly productive, early indeterminate variety that produces large, ribbed pink hearts weighing 7-12.3 oz (200-350 g). Growers praise it for its excellent heat tolerance, ability to set fruit all the way to the greenhouse roof, and its rich, sweet, meaty flavor. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mikado Sibiriko is a commercial Indeterminate Siberian variety (Sibirskiy Sad) known for producing massive, meaty pink hearts up to 21 oz (600 g). It shares the classic “wispy foliage” trait common to many oxhearts. Growers frequently compare it to the popular Batyanya tomato, noting it has a very similar mild, sweet flavor … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Minusinskie Rozovye (Minusinsk Pink) is a highly productive, indeterminate Siberian heirloom from the famous Minusinsk region. It yields heavy clusters of sweet, sugary pink hearts weighing 7-17.6 oz (200-500 g). Interestingly, the fruits often shift shapes on the same vine, throwing large flat hearts on the bottom and elongated pepper shapes up … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Momini Salzi (Maiden’s Tears) is a Bulgarian commercial indeterminate variety from the Florian seed company that produces large, meaty red hearts. Unlike many delicate, spindly heart varieties, this one boasts strong, sturdy vines. While the seed packet promises a “radically unique flavor,” most growers agree it’s just a very good, classic sweet … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Plant habit: Indeterminate vine (up to 5.5 ft / 1.7m), characterized by a wispy, “dainty” foliage structure that doesn’t shade out neighboring plants. Fruit & Yield: Produces large (10-33 oz / 300-950g), pinkish-crimson, meaty heart-shaped tomatoes. Extremely early for an indeterminate, often beating other large heirlooms to the table. Full summary ↓ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Medovyi Spas (Honey Salvation) is a famous Russian commercial heirloom developed by Siberian breeders. It is an indeterminate, wispy-leafed variety that produces beautiful honey-orange, blunt heart or kidney-shaped beefsteaks. Growers across the board agree that it is one of the absolute best-tasting yellow/orange tomatoes available—boasting a dense, buttery, “pure meat” texture with … Read more